Of Latin and love

[gothikmaus]

I had a sudden craving for fish and chips last night. I'm weird like that.

Anyway, I found this among some old notes from school:

Vivamus, mea Lesbia, atque amemus
rumoresque senum severiorum
omnes unius aestimemus assis!
Soles occidere et redire possunt:
nobis eum semel occidit brevis lux,
nox est perpetua una dormienda.
Da mi basia mille, deinde centum
dein mille altera, dein secunda centum,
deinde usque altera mille, deinde centum.
Dein, cum milia multa fecerimus,
conturbabimus illa, ne sciamus,
aut ne quis malus invidere possit,
cum tantum sciat esse basiorum.

For those who don't know Latin, Catullo was madly in love with Lesbia and wrote this poem for her. It's about living and loving and ignoring what other people may think of it. Lesbia was always cheating on him, though, and he suffered terribly, like he says in this poem:

Odi et amo. Quare id faciam, fortasse requiris.
Nescio, sed fieri sentio et excrucior.

I hate and I love. *sigh* Love has never been simple, has it?

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I love this poem, which is sort of embarassing for me to say, given that I don't know any Latin. I love the hypnotic, repeating rhythms, the repeated d and m sounds. It doesn't hurt that "Nox est perpetua una dormienda/Da mi basia mille" is about the only phrase in Latin I *can* read. But it's such a sensual poem, and not just for the literal meaning. It's so...undulatory.

--
Theresa (Who really does NOT know Latin!)

[gothikmaus.livejournal.com]

I love the rhythm and the repetitions too, they reflect the joy the author felt at the time. I've forgotten most of what I used to know about Latin, I haven't opened a Latin book for years, but I can offer a rough translation.


Let's live, my Lesbia, and love
and ignore the comments of
too strict old people!
Days can end and start again:
once our short light ends,
we'll have to sleep an eternal night.
Give me a thousand kisses, then a hundred
then another thousand, then a hundred more,
then a thousand again, then a hundred.
Then, putting them together,
we'll mingle them all, so neither we,
nor those who wish us ill,
will ever know how many they are.

*****

I hate and I love. Why I do it, you may wonder.
I don't know, but I feel it and it destroys me.

[isiscolo.livejournal.com]

That's why people like stories. Everybody's had these experiences, from the beginning of time.

[gothikmaus.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's the catch: you can feel the greatest happiness, but also the greatest pain. Sometimes I wonder if it's worth it.